Oregon daily emerald., May 11, 2004, Image 5

Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NHL Playoffs:
Calgary vs. San Jose
6 p.m., ESPN
Hank Hager
Behind the dish
Baseball
creates its
own web
with ads
So it seemed for a little while there
that the webbed wonder was going to get
his own spotlight at 15 Major League
Baseball stadiums from June 11 through
June 13.
Spider-Man and baseball?
Now, like peanut butter and jelly.
Chunks and all.
Should we all have been terribly sur
prised?
No.
Should baseball purists be both quiet
ly and verbally upset at the notion of an
advertisement on the on-deck circle or
the bases?
Absolutely.
Is this an ingenious idea for marketing
executives in a time when the sports
world has become a big business and, in
effect, money is the bottom line?
No further questions needed.
The skinny of it is:
"They're always looking for new ways
to create incremental revenue streams for
the league," said Paul Swangard, director
of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing
Center. "I think it's a pretty creative ap
proach. You can say what you want
about traditional baseball values and not
protecting the sanctity of the game.
"But let's be obvious. The only reason
people are willing to pay the kind of mon
ey for the teams to put this on their bases is
because there's all these people watching
they want to reach with their advertising."
In effect, and Swangard alluded to this
later, is that somebody was bound to
eventually try an advertising scenario
like this. In past seasons, the American
and National leagues have placed World
Series and Major League Baseball All-Star
logos on the bases and on-deck circles.
But the catch is that those were for the
betterment of the game. Those logos
were internal advertising, a way to pro
mote what was happening on the field,
not in the theaters.
Spider-Man and promotion of the su
perhero's second movie is a whole other
realm. It's a realm the game won't get
into just yet — giving up an estimated
$3.6 million that Columbia Pictures and
Marvel Studios would have paid to pro
mote the movie.
That, in itself, is a dangerous precedent.
As much as everyone outside baseball
seems to be happy that the advertising
won't happen, there's nothing to say base
ball officials won't try it again next year.
The thought has seeped into the minds of
commissioner Bud Selig and Co.
That's dangerous.
Sometime, probably soon, the
thought will stick.
Maybe even for good.
Turn to HAGER, page 6
Lack of training doesn't stop Skipper
Tommy Skipper surprises himself by winning
the Pac-10 title with little or no training in many
events; he'll compete in the pole vault Saturday
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
The idea of entering a decathlon had crossed Tommy Skip
per's mind once or twice.
Competing for the Pacific-10 Conference decathlon title
with little or no training in many of the events, however, was
never part of the freshman's thought process.
Despite being one of the most talented track and field
athletes in the country, Skipper entered Friday's competition
with no idea how he'd fare against decathletes who had
been training all year. The Sandy native would have to rely
on raw ability after focusing primarily on the pole vault
throughout the season.
MEN'S
TRACK
"In the last couple of years I've
been thinking about opening in a de
cathlon," Skipper said. "I touched on
a few of the events in high school. I
threw the javelin and the disc in
some of the events (at Hayward
i ieia) Dut 1 never expected to open up without any train
ing or prep work."
Turns out Skipper's athletic ability was more than enough
as the freshman bettered the nearest competitor by 105
points on the way to being named Pac-10 champion. For his
efforts, Skipper was also named Pac-10 Men's Athlete of the
Week on Monday.
Along with the freshman's overall success came several sur
prising performances, most notably in the speed events. Skip
per had the fastest time in the 100-meter dash (10.69 seconds)
and third best time in the 400 (50.26) among the nine de
cathlete finishers.
"1 didn't know I'd run the 100 that fast," Skipper said. "I
haven't been training for it at all. I haven't done any speed
work. I also surprised myself in the 400."
But perhaps the biggest surprise of Skipper's decathlon was
his performance in the 110-meter hurdles, when he finished
fifth with a time of 15.44. Prior to the race, his only hurdles
experience came during a decathlon he competed in during
the eighth grade.
Skipper said he was nervous before the 110 hurdles — the
first event of the second day — because he didn't want to fall
behind in the standings.
"I knew that could break my back if I didn't do well," Skip
per said. "Especially the morning (of the second day), when
you wake up and you can hardly get out of bed, you're like,
'holy smokes' That was my first thought when I woke up: 'I
have to get up and run five more events'"
Skipper said a combination of encouragement from de
cathlon coach Bill Lawson, his teammates and physical thera
py from the training staff helped him win the conference title.
"I can't say enough good things about those guys," Skipper
said. "They got me through it. It was kind of a team effort to
get everyone through it."
Looking ahead
With Pac- 10s coming up this weekend, several Oregon ath
letes rank at the top of the conference in their respective events.
The Ducks feature four event leaders, including redshirt
junior Brett Holts in the 3,000 steeplechase (8:44.57), soph
omore Eric Mitchum in the 110 hurdles (13.50), senior
Brandon Holliday in the 400 hurdles (51.08) and Skipper
Turn to TRAINING, page 6
Erik R. Bishoff Photographer
Tommy Skipper earned Pac-10 Track and Field Athlete of the Week honors for winning the conference
decathlon title. Skipper now will compete in the pole vault Saturday in Tucson.
UO Club triathlon sets sights on Lebanon
The Club team finishes fifth at
one of its most high-profile events
of the team’s 2004 season
By Kirsten McEwen
Freelance Reporter
In a sport where team times are rarely empha
sized, Oregon's Club triathlon team members
had to count on one another to finish in the top
five in the Wildflower Triathlon on May 1.
The Ducks traveled south to compete in the
tournament on Lake San Antonio, located just
outside of San Luis Obispo, Calif. Twenty-one
triathletes represented Oregon in the SeaGate
Collegiate Championships.
Oregon, competing in its first Olympic-distance
triathlon, finished in fifth place with an overall
time of 16 hours, 50.10 minutes. Montana,
with an overall time of 14:43.59, claimed first
place ahead of California, Cal Poly and UC
San Diego.
Club
Sports
"Montana came out of
nowhere and did really
well," triathlon Team Co
ordinator Tana Bryn said.
"No one expected them to
do so well. Their snowy
conditions make it hard
tor them to train, but obviously that didn't
hold them back."
On the men's side, Jay Williams, Daniel But
ler and David Matthews were Oregon's top fin
ishers. Williams finished with a time of
2:36.24. His time, along with Butler's and
Matthews', was combined with Oregon's top
three women's times to give Oregon a top-five
finish at one of the team's most important
races of the year.
Kristina Rand, Sarah Mollet and Alison We
ber paced the Oregon women and each of their
scores counted toward Oregon's team score.
"I was really impressed by everyone's scores,
especially because we have so many new ath
letes," Mollet said. "It's a big physical challenge
and just a great test for the body."
Each triathlete participated in a 1500-meter
swim, a 40-kilometer bike ride and a 6.2-mile run.
"Everyone was really pleased with the race,"
Bryn said. "Everyone was really out there to
help everyone else out."
Turn to SIGHTS, page 6